Liberty Baptist Church History

At the close of the Civil War, in 1865, there were no churches or schoolhouses in this part of the country. The church building at Chapel Hill, two miles east of here, was destroyed by Federal soldiers in the year 1864.

Following the war, Jacob SMITH, Alex SMITH, James DILLAHUNTY, Anderson MCGUIRE, and others concluded to build a schoolhouse at Liberty. Jacob SMITH gave a plot of land and a small house was built on it. Shortly after its erection a Missionary Baptist preacher by the name of LUCADO began preaching in this community schoolhouse. In 1867 a preacher by the name of BURKSDALE held a series of meetings in a brush arbor in front of the schoolhouse, and as a result of this meeting, it was decided to organize a Baptist church at this place. In the year 1973 Reverend Edward LUCADO organized a Missionary Baptist Church and erected a separate house, a frame building 40x45 feet, and called it Liberty. The work grew and prospered until 1914, when it was found necessary to build a more modern structure, and in May of the same year a subscription was taken by Reverend W. H. MAJOR, assisted by the pastor, Reverend J. T. UPTON. It was the prevailing sentiment of the congregation at the time that a brick church with all modern conveniences be erected. A building committee was appointed to investigate and make recommendations to the church. This building committee was composed of A. S. J. SMITH, P. J. SMITH, J. W. RICE, Robert A. SMITH, and W. G. SMITH. This committee recommended that a brick building be constructed, which was accepted by the church.

Owing to the conditions prevailing during the World War, work on the building was not started until the spring of 1919. A few changes were made in the building committee which was now composed of A. S. J. SMITH, chairman; P. J. SMITH, Robert A. SMITH, W. Glover SMITH, H. E. SMITH, treasurer, building fund, and W. Ed SMITH, contractor.

The plans for the erection of this church were drawn by Reverend T. Riley DAVIS, pastor of the church at this time, and it was largely due to his efforts that the present building was erected.

In May 1920 a two-day meeting was held, conducted by Dr. W. H. MAJOR, assisted by Reverend W. R. PUCKETT, pastor at this time. On Sunday, May 30, 1920, a three-year subscription was taken to cover an indebtedness of $6,000, and the church was dedicated by Dr. W. H. MAJOR.

Following is a list of pastors since the church was organized:

Edward LUCADO W.H. BRUTON
T.J. HUNT M.M. BLEDSOE
A.G. PARROT J.P. MYERS
N.W. MCFADDEN W.R. FARROW
R.P. LUCADO S.A. OWEN
I.M. WISE C.C.GREER
J.T. UPTON W.B. MCKINSTRY
T. Riley DAVIS C.L. OWEN
W.R. PUCKETT W.L. NORRIS
Edward A. THOMPSON J.A. YARBRO

The church now has four girls in training at the Baptist Memorial Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, and two others that are graduate nurses from other hospitals, and a young man in Southwestern Seminary at Ft. Worth, Texas.

This church is Missionary in every sense of the word. The church is well organized and has a fine Sunday School with its organized classes and uses the Southern Baptist Sunday School literature. We have in this church about 20 holding a diploma from our Sunday School Board.

Edward THOMPSON, Pastor
Holly Elmo SMITH, Chairman of Board of Deacons
Robert A. SMITH, Deacon and Treasurer of Church
Orren B. RICE, Sunday School Superintendent and Deacon
L. A. SMITH, Jr., Sunday School Secretary
Prof. Ramond SMITH, Director of Choir
L.F. THOMPSON, Deacon and Teacher of Men's Bible Class
P.J. SMITH, Deacon and Teacher Young Men's Bible Class

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